After Ma Zhenhua's death, the number of people has increased to eleven. Regardless of whether the limit for each tent tonight is two, three, or four people, there will always be those left over. Those one or more will inevitably face death!
Moreover, tonight there will be an additional unknown selection criterion. No one knows what that criterion is, whether they have inadvertently triggered it, or what tasks they should have completed. This
uncertainty and unknown created a profound sense of dread, weighing heavily on everyone's hearts.
Today's task for the day remains finding the sacrificial offerings specified by the middle-aged man.
After breakfast, Mu Yiran, Ke Xun, and Wei Dong set off northward.
The northern mountains stretched endlessly, their peaks covered in snow. The sunlight, refracted by the snow, was exceptionally dazzling. However, Ke Xun observed carefully and realized that this sunlight, like on the first day, wasn't true sunlight. It had no source; it simply blanketed the sky in a scattered, overwhelming manner.
The blue sky above was still vast and deep. Looking up, the depths of the sky, seemingly crowded with something enormous, appeared even more cramped and heavy than on the first day, as if the sky were pressing closer to the ground.
Ke Xun was having trouble breathing again.
This was truly a particularly frustrating thing for him—he had actually developed claustrophobia on the most expansive and open Ganxiong Plateau.
Ke Xun covered his mouth and nose with his hand, his head throbbing with pain.
"Ke'er?" Wei Dong noticed Ke Xun's unusual condition and quickly came over to support him. "What's wrong? Morning sickness?"
Ke Xun: "...Damn it, believe it or not, I'll throw up amniotic fluid all over your face."
"Look at that pale face," Wei Dong looked at Ke Xun's complexion with concern and called out to Mu Yiran, who was walking ahead, "Boss, Ke'er seems to be experiencing altitude sickness."
Mu Yiran turned his head to look, then walked back over, looked at Ke Xun's face, and said calmly, "Either stop and rest, or go back."
"You want to go by yourself?" Ke Xun looked at him.
"Time waits for no one," Mu Yiran said.
"I just need a moment, give me two minutes," Ke Xun said, bending over and panting.
"I heard that altitude sickness requires oxygen," Wei Dong said. "We don't have any oxygen cylinders right now, how about we give him artificial oxygen?" He glanced at Mu Yiran as he spoke.
Mu Yiran looked at him coldly: "He doesn't have altitude sickness, it's a psychological issue causing a physiological stress response. He can adjust himself."
He turned and continued walking forward.
"How heartless," Wei Dong whispered to Ke Xun.
"It's better than you being unreasonable," Ke Xun straightened up. "Stop messing around."
"Isn't my unreasonable behavior just because you spoiled me? Blame yourself," Wei Dong said. "By the way, what psychological problem do you have? How did it cause a physiological reaction?"
Ke Xun: "...What the hell is a physiological reaction? Can't I
say it's a physiological stress response?" Wei Dong: "So what exactly caused your physiological reaction?"
Ke Xun: "...Damn it."
"Don't you feel it," Ke Xun pointed upwards, "that the sky and the earth are really close together? And the sky is really opaque, like a sheet of iron painted blue, being pressed down hard."
Wei Dong looked up at the sky, hesitated, and shook his head: "I don't feel anything. The sky looks quite high and distant, but from an aesthetic point of view, the sky is actually painted quite poorly. It lacks depth, like a layer of blue paint has been applied evenly, with patches of dark and light. I suspect it's a problem with the canvas texture."
"Really? I always feel like we're trapped in a tiny space." Ke Xun stared at the sky, suddenly having a strange feeling, as if something outside the heavens was watching him.
The two talked as they chased after Mu Yiran. He walked very fast, and the rugged mountain path didn't hinder his speed at all.
After rounding several peaks, they came to a rocky area, with a small river flowing down from the snow-capped mountains, its banks covered with grass and wildflowers.
"This is like a paradise, there's not a trace of horror here," Wei Dong said.
"No," Ke Xun looked at the bright scenery before him, "I find it terrifying."
"What's terrifying?" Wei Dong asked.
"A vivid terror," Ke Xun said. "Don't you think the colors of everything in front of us are too vivid?"
"What's so strange about that? Things are clearer in unpolluted places," Wei Dong said. "Besides, this is a painting. The vividness of the scenery could also be because the original painting's colors were more vibrant."
"But compared to the previous painting, this one is too obviously a painting," Ke Xun said. "In my unprofessional terms, it feels like it was overdone, making the scenery look particularly fake. Whether it's the sky, the mountains, the river, or these rocks and weeds, they all look very fake, so it's terrifying."
Wei Dong scratched his head: "Your sense of terror is really peculiar. I can't feel it."
While the two were talking, Mu Yiran slowed down, even stopped, and bent down to study the plants and trees by the river.
"Your crush seems to really like flowers and plants," Wei Dong said.
Ke Xun stroked his chin, about to speak, when he looked up and noticed several figures moving in the distance along the path they had come from.
After a moment's observation, they realized it was Qin Ci leading Sha Liu and Li Ziling, followed by Zhou Bin and Zhao Dan, and finally the Geng family of three, all heading in this direction.
"Looks like this group is planning to follow us," Wei Dong said.
"No, they're following Mu Yiran," Ke Xun said, a smirk playing on his lips. "Excellent people are followed wherever they go."
While Mu Yiran was studying the flowers and plants, Qin Ci and the others had already reached them. After greeting them, Qin Ci asked, "Little Mu, you've been heading this way; have you found any clues?"
The others all stared intently at Mu Yiran.
Now, every possible clue was treated like a lifeline, something they desperately wanted to grasp.
Seeing that Mu Yiran didn't speak immediately, Zhou Bin stepped forward and stared at him: "I advise you not to hold back. Only if we all work together can we possibly leave this place sooner. I believe you don't like people like Ma Zhenhua either. None of us like him, and you surely know why: Ma Zhenhua is too selfish. Selfish people will be abandoned by the majority sooner or later, and I don't think you want to be the one abandoned. Tonight, the tents will be redistributed again. Your decision will determine whether you get the support of the others, so I hope you think it through."
Ke Xun, listening from the side, laughed: "Looks like you're the most selfless one. I wonder how it felt to have all that human flesh to yourself last night." "Okay, watching helplessly as the 'selfish' Ma Zhenhua gets dragged out and skinned alive, is it a feeling of kinship or a sense of shared fate?"
These words made Zhou Bin's face tremble. He clenched his fist and lunged at Ke Xun, but Ke Xun easily dodged and grabbed Zhou Bin's arm. "Your girlfriend's here, so I'll give you some face. But I also want to say this first: please be more polite to others in the future. Nobody owes you anything, and your threats are completely insignificant. People will protect those with ability, not those who
only make threats." Zhou Bin's face trembled even more violently, but with Ke Xun's arm completely immobilized by just one hand, he knew he was no match for him.
Once Ke Xun released his grip, Zhou Bin didn't press the matter further. He simply stared at Ke Xun with a stern face, then at Mu Yiran, and said through gritted teeth, "Fine, I admit my words were harsh, but the principle is sound. Everyone should speak up if they have any thoughts or clues. Hiding things is useless if only you know them. You can indeed choose not to act, but sometimes inaction is tantamount to counter-action. Failing to help someone in distress is equivalent to aiding and abetting murder. Don't you all agree?"
Li Ziling nodded subconsciously, while the others remained silent.
Mu Yiran finally spoke, his voice cold: "I really didn't intend to tell you, because the clues I've deduced might not save people, but rather harm them. But since you think telling you is for your own good, then I can grant your request. However, let me make this clear: what I say is merely an objective deduction based on the facts, I don't guarantee its accuracy, and I'm not responsible for your lives. How you judge and deduce it is up to you."
"Fine," Zhou Bin sneered, "I accept your disclaimer."
"You can also choose not to listen." Ke Xun looked at him with a forced smile.
"Tell me," Qin Ci said, "Different people have different opinions, this is just for reference, the decision is still yours."
"Then let's talk as we walk." Mu Yiran didn't linger any longer and started walking north.
A group of people followed them, listening to Mu Yiran say, "My first guess is that the thing that picks people from among us to kill every night is a demon god from a certain sect of the Sataka religion."
Qin Ci nodded, "I also have some doubts about that. Since that person made us prepare sacrificial offerings, and judging from last night, at least everyone who personally prepared the offerings escaped death, it means that the offerings we prepared were useful and correct. Furthermore, the types of offerings, such as human flesh, male semen, and female blood, are all rather evil, which confirms the nature of this thing. It is not a righteous god or Buddha, but a demon or ghost."
Mu Yiran continued, "The Sataka religion has several major branches and numerous minor branches, and each sect has different doctrines and pantheons. I cannot be certain that this thing is..." "Which branch of demon gods does it belong to? But if it really is a demon god, then in the scriptures and traditions of certain branches of the Sataka religion, the objects used to worship wrathful and fierce gods and demonic deities are indeed somewhat evil and even bloody. So, could the Dom, Gala, and Dangka, whose meanings we don't understand, be similar things?"
Everyone suddenly realized, and Zhou Bin couldn't help but interject, "Even if we know they are evil things, we don't know what they specifically refer to."
Geng's father, one of the three members of the Geng family, suddenly said, "I also have a clue, I don't know if it's right. About that eight-armed thing... when my family went on a trip abroad last year, we saw it at a Sataka temple there. I couldn't remember what it was called, but when we talked about wrathful and fierce gods, I suddenly remembered, it seems to be called... Black Corpse Heaven."